March, 2008
NEXT
MEETING:
March 11th, at 7:30 PM, SF County Fair Building at 9th Ave. and Lincoln Way
PROGRAM:
Meet
Dan of Dan’s Dahlias as well as Franck Avril whose photos adorn Dan’s
catalog and booth at the Landscape and Garden Show. This is a great
opportunity to meet wonderful people and hear the highlights of the 2008
season.
Poster Contest:
Design and bring a poster for our plant and tuber sale on April 5th.
Bring a sample poster to our meeting and the one with the most votes
will be our sales poster.
DUES DUE: If you have forgotten to renew your membership please do so now. Bring your check for DSC dues ($10) with optional American Dahlia Society dues. Form available here
FEBRUARY
MEETING:
We welcomed back peripatetic Franck
Avril from San Diego, and greeted new attendee Terry Castilyn. Terry
learned about us at the Dahlia Dell. Reconfiguring the seating so that
we faced one another, as suggested by Gerda Juul, invigorated the group
and the discussions. Elsie Mueller discussed our April 5 tuber and
cutting sale. Volunteers arrive at 7;00 A.M., being sure to remember to
bring a dish for the pot-luck lunch that traditionally follows. We will
have a competition for a poster, and distribute them to work places,
businesses, etc. Everybody please try to collect as many flat, shallow
boxes, as you can, to bring.
A
reminder was made of our Tuber exchange website, hosted by web-mistress
Jytte Rasmussen. This is available to DSC members and was set up to
enable us to list urgent needs, such as that prize plant that didn't
make it through winter. Of course, we hope most activity to take place
after April 5. Possibly we can expand this to meet other needs. To
participate send an e-mail to:
tuberexchange@yahoogroups.com.
We spoke of member retention. Many felt that our programs have kept them
coming back over the months and years. Frank noted that, in his
experience, participating in shows, with all that this entails, brings
one to another level of participation, involvement and deeper bonding.
We are always open to ideas for program or activities to make membership
more desirable.
Organic
gardening was discussed. Guy Chibante of the San Leandro Dahlia Society
was present and gave generously of his information to members with
questions. Mike and Martha of Halfmoon Bay have been plagued with
cucumber beetles . Guy offered advice and noted that these critters are
usually seen in hotter climes, but having a dahlia garden surrounded by
a pumpkin farm explains their exotic presence. Thanks to John for
his cookies, to Baker Bill for the chocolate cream pie and the double
lemon pie, to Natalie for the Lemon Loaf (from home grown lemons?) and
to the Cornishes for Chocolate cake. Wow! such treats. The Dingwalls
also brought generous amounts of their luscious lemons to share.
TUBER
WRANGLERS:
10 DSCers
staged an invitational Dig Out to help Frank liberate his tuber
trove. Enjoying the Southern California weather in short sleeves, Vince
and Pat dug the clumps. Dick wrested them from their gopher baskets
while Lou doused them. Deborah and Ron divided, bleached and sulfured
on one of the 2 big tables Baker Bill set up. At the other table, label
mavens, Joann, Thelma, Mary and Bonnie listened to a remarkable
collation of great songs from older eras. Frank treated us to a feast
of Basque soup and a huge salad followed by yummy cakes from Bill and
the Cornishes. What a great day!
CUT
UPS SEMINAR?
Lou L. reprises his outstanding cutting seminar
Sunday, March 9 from 9-3. He offers hands-on experience in making
cuttings for the tuber sale. There are only 12 spots available so book
your seat NOW:
Lou@trgn.com
2008 Tuber and Cutting Sales
| San Leandro | April 26, 2008 | Root Park |
| DSC San Francisco | April 5,2008 | County Fair Building, GGP |
| Monterey | April 5, 2008 | Deer Park Shopping Ctr. Aptos |
| John Stowell DS | April 6, 2008 | De Anza Flee Market |
WALKING
TALKING BLOOMERATI: PSW:
Representatives
from the 7 California dahlia societies met at the Embassy Suites for 2
days of dahlia talk. Karen compiled the Top Twenty Winning Varieties of
2007, with Valley Porcupine and Pam Howden leading the pack. Using the
same show data, she sliced and diced for the 2007 Winning cultivars by
Class. So if you can only grow one of a certain class, check her stats
for the best choice based on last year’s performers.From Roy’s 6x10’
greenhouse came a special cutting for each participant at PSW including
Danum Meteors and Stellyonnes. In differentiating between cuttings,
tubers and pot roots, Roy suggested that for performance, consider a
horse race: pot roots will usually win; cuttings will often place; and
tubers commonly show. Or to put it differently, if dahlias were cars,
tubers would be the Hummers—big investment, terrible gas mileage;
cuttings would be like our hybrids, cool technology but a little
different; pot roots would be the midsized models, reliable and
midrange. The John Stowell Society with the help of super scrounger Guy
mounted an excellent raffle which included cans of bat guano, green sand
and innumerable bottles of Bayers 3 in one. The hot “pink” ticket items
on the special table were cymbidiums from Ozzy and a cool folding cart.
Jytte nabbed both on the first two pink draws. Talk about lucky! At a
back table Kevin, John, Joann, Tinnee and Deborah tried on their new
landshark sunglasses, safety goggles, ear protectors and blue gloves.
Past
PREZ Ron Miner
opened his keynote address saying that he’d never attended a raffle cum
masquerade ball before. He waded into several ADS controversies. Don
McAlister of the Colorado Dahlia Society and originator of The Big List,
has agreed to improve the ADS National Website where some parts will be
open to the public and some areas privy to only ADS members. There was
discussion about putting the ADS Classification Book on line in a
read-only format in addition to printing it in the present booklet
form. Ken Masurat questioned how accurate this data is since there is
no uniformity at a national level as to show formats: some societies
divide like we do into novice, amateur and open; others into small
growers based on amount of clumps grown, medium growers, and maniac
planters. Some promote from novice after a single blue ribbon; others
after 3 sweepstakes; others after 3 years showing no matter what the
results. Particularly well received, Ron suggested another way to
calculate points when judging: score by percentage. So a “passing”
form fault still counts for at least 85% of 28 points or maximum minus
4.2. However, a “passing” bloom position equals 85% of only 5 points,
yielding a deduction of only .75. This is something that Lou P.
delineated during his mini judging sessions at each show last year
NATIONAL
SHOW HERE IN 2011!
What
a fabulous opportunity to host dahliacenti from all over the world.
Tinnee outlined the various chair people needed to begin planning this
huge undertaking: Treasurer, Jeff; Show Manager, Kevin; Exhibition
Hall, Lou L. and Lou P; Court of Honor, Lou P; Judges and clerks, John;
Show Tally, Jytte; Classification, Karen; Photography, Franck; Awards,
Erik and Gerda; Hotel and registration, Marilyn; Graphics, Randy; PR,
Deborah; Gifts and silent auction, Guy. Still needed are: AV, Tour,
and Exhibitor Staging. Please contact Tinnee or the other chairs to
share your expertise.
LIGHT
BROWN APPLE MOTH:
Our
pest sheriff, Guy, announced that the LBAM problem grows. Parts of San
Francisco and Monterey have the highest trap counts. San Francisco will
begin aerial spraying of pheromones which will interrupt the life
cycle. Monterey will release parasitic wasps. We are not sure how this
will affect our Shows this summer. To learn more, Google LBAM or CDFA.
MARCH:
MUDDY MAYHEM:
Move
your stored tubers to a warmer spot now so they will germinate by April
5, our Tuber and Cutting Sale Day. Check them: When in doubt, throw it
out! Anything slightly rotten, toss. Sometimes I try to salvage “good
stuff” by milk cartooning the squishy root if the crown and neck are
still intact. In the past when a single tuber could cost upwards of
three days’ salary (yipes!), deft hands would reposition a broken neck
and fuse it in place with a wax cast, like a broken leg. Please try to
bring your spares to our sole fundraiser of the year! I have a loft
full of tubers in milk cartons. I DO NOT WATER them until I see wee
green sprouts. Then I water sparingly; tubers do not have roots yet; if
they get too wet, they’ll rot. Beware! When my plantlets are @3-4”
high, I transfer them to my unheated greenhouse. When they are 12” I
put them in a sunny spot on my deck to “harden off,” meaning get them
used to the cold cruel world and ready for planting out in the great
exposed garden. Jump starting tubers now means that you could see
blooms up to a month earlier. What a lovely idea.
Yours in Dirt
Deborah
Dahlia
Society of California, Inc., San Francisco, CA
-- Copyrighted
Editor:
Deborah Dietz
e-Newsletter Editor: Jytte Rasmussen
Acknowledgement: Photos in
this issue by Deborah and ADS